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Video snacks are the latest rage among the working proletariat nowadays. People are hungry for the sentimental, the celebratory, the enigmatically natural joy of physics, the contemplative, the comic — especially at 3 pm on a workday.

For me, one of the pure pleasures of video on the Web is discovering cinematic joy in a short commercial that I may have dismissed because of timing and the medium. But, with a set of headphones forming an aural cocoon, I can experience the magic of water balloons floating and bursting in super-slow-motion, reflect on my children and wife, and appreciate what an immensely beautiful world that presents itself. All in a Schweppes ad; can you believe it?

Reflections

As a high school teacher, I am always looking for moments that transcend, that are what I simply call "happy-making moments," for two reasons: 1) I like to begin my English classes with quirky or thought-provoking images or quotations to focus my students and get them writing or dialoguing; 2) during the course of a school day, there are many times a teacher just needs those moments to cling to. This video is one of those happy-making moments, making me smile all the way through it. Thank you for sharing; I hadn't seen it yet.

"Happy-making moments" ... I like that. I've been watching some wonderful amateur filmmakers on Vimeo lately. These auteurs are making some incredibly moving pieces. I'll be posting more in the weeks ahead.